


Who I Am

by sapphireswimming



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: F/M, Ghost Hunting, Human Experimentation, Mostly Gen, Oneshot, Post Episode: s02e19 Double Cross My Heart, Suspense, any 'romance' is past canonical levels of Elliot/Sam Manson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-01
Updated: 2011-07-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:55:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22055164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphireswimming/pseuds/sapphireswimming
Summary: Gregor/Elliot comes back to Amity Park seeking Sam's help because something has happened to him. But she's not quite sure what to think... about any of it.
Relationships: Elliot/Sam Manson
Kudos: 1
Collections: Collabs and Challenges with DannyPhantomSG1





	Who I Am

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted here: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6987808/8/Phantasmic-Images
> 
> DannyPhantomSG1's (@Danny Phantom SG-1 on fanfiction.net) corresponding oneshot collection was originally posted here: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6972859/1/Informal-Inspirations
> 
> Prompt #1: _Who I Am Hates Who I've Been_ by Reliant K (see bottom notes for prompt #2)

Danny yawned. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Sam…" he said, failing to cover his mouth before the yawn had run its course.

"Late night?" she asked knowingly.

"Yeah, I had a false alarm last night, or this morning, I don't even know, but sometime, and I was out looking for it for more than an hour..."

"Well, how about we split up? You take the way to Fenton Works and I'll take the area to my house." She cut him off as he began to stop her. "No, don't interrupt; I'll be fine. It's been an easy patrol. We were going to call it a night in just a bit anyway."

He looked at her skeptically. "If you're sure…"

She smiled reassuringly. "I'll be fine."

"Alright." He flashed her a smile before yawning again. "You're the best!"

"Don't I know it?"

"See ya tomorrow!"

"Yeah. 'Night!"

He sped off.

Sam smiled after him for a moment before continuing on her way.

As she began the trip home, she felt a wave of cold air waft by her, sending a chill down her spine. She shrugged it off as an aftermath of Danny flying away. Things had certainly changed once he'd fully exhibited his ice core.

The feeling kept on growing as she went down the street, however, until she was looking over her shoulder every few seconds by the time she had gone another two blocks. She was starting to regret telling Danny to leave—she would really have appreciated an escort home—but there was no help for it now. He was probably home by now and, in a run of horrendously rotten luck, neither of them had been carrying their cell phones that night.

She tightened her grip on the thermos and walked as quickly as she could without running, suddenly having no other thought than of getting home to her haven of candle-lit darkness and silk sheets.

She shivered violently.

She had finally gotten so worked up that she was about to break out into a pure sprint when she felt something cold enveloping her arm from behind.

She couldn't help it—she screamed.

She wouldn't have thought that she would be one to scream, and she had never done it during a ghost attack, but then again, she had never been grabbed by some unknown and freakishly cold entity from a dark alleyway while she had worked herself up into such a paranoid state.

The force of the abrupt stop made her whirl around and whatever it was that had grabbed her used the momentum to its advantage to spin her toward it and clamp one of those cold, cold hands over her mouth to stifle her scream.

It started what was almost a sort of hissing in her ear, and it frightened her, making her twist away from the massive arms instead of being reassured by the soft words she recognized them to be a moment later.

Her heart was still pounding, but she realized that whoever or whatever had grabbed her was still and silent and had relaxed its hold upon her. If it had wanted to mug, kill, or rape her, it would have made a move by now.

This logic took a while to filter through her brain, but eventually, she gathered up the courage to turn around and look at the being who had grabbed her, despite her growing paranoia that it would be some hideously disfigured thing with glowing eyes and a nasty ectoplasmic punch.

It was almost completely hidden in the shadows by the time she had turned round to face it, but there was still enough light from a streetlamp around the corner to recognize a shock of white hair.

She heaved a sigh of relief. It was Danny. Then, that feeling quickly turned into annoyance and indignation. He had told her some phony story about being tired so that he could prank her in the dark on her way home? So not cool.

"Danny…"

The figure moved in surprise and she was able to see that the figure was quite tall. Taller than Danny. Then too, those arms that had grabbed her were a lot bigger and stronger than she remembered Danny's being.

She froze as the realization hit her.

"You're… you're not Danny." She somehow managed to get out.

There was a soft, almost nervous chuckle from the shadows in front of her.

"No. No, I'm not."

She had not expected to hear _that_ tone in the thing's reply, nor a voice that was so utterly hopeful and apologetic at the same time. She peered forward, her interest piqued.

The figure slowly moved forward so that he was a little more illuminated from the streetlamp around the corner, at least, enough for Sam to get her first decent look at the guy, who didn't seem to be much older than herself. Still couldn't make out much of his clothes or appearance other than the white hair. But then she looked at his face… and her jaw dropped.

"No way." She breathed before moving closer. "Is that… are you… really…" she paused, unable to fathom that this could actually be who she thought it was.

"Gregor?"

"Elliot, actually. I haven't been Gregor since I left Amity."

As this turn of events registered in her mind, Sam's thoughts turned from shock and surprise to linger on the events that made Gregor, or Elliot, leave Amity Park several months ago. It was something that she had utterly refused to think about or deal with since that time and she was dealing with the consequences of leaving it alone now. All of the emotions poured over her and through her until she was overwhelmed.

The budding crush she felt for him, so different from what she felt for Danny. The bubbly feeling of being admired by him for who she was: a Goth, independent and unique.

The anger at Danny for spying on her and trying to sabotage the relationship that she wanted to work by claiming that he was working for the GIW.

The utter loss and confusion when he revealed himself for the jerk he was. The pain and depression and feeling of emptiness in the weeks after he was gone.

The feelings that never quite left. The feelings that she never should have felt in the first place.

She knew what he was, what he really was: nothing but a jerkish, self-centered, money-snatching, girl-hungry fake that took advantage of her and stole her first kiss.

So why was she so conflicted now that he was standing in front of her again?

She stood stock still, so absorbed in her thoughts until Elliot became worried that she had gone into shock at seeing him or something. Perhaps grabbing her in the middle of the night wasn't the best idea, especially given the circumstances under which they had parted.

He waved his hand in front of her face but she didn't even see it. After hesitating, he reached out and touched her arm, hoping for a response. He got one; Sam jerked away from him and stepped back, eying him warily.

How dare he touch her… after all that had happened, both tonight and before?

She didn't like it when he touched her. Not now. It reminded her of all that they had shared together when they were dating and what she had missed since. It made her confused.

She didn't know whether to punch him and run, or hug him and go back to where they had left off, giving him a second chance.

And why on earth would she want that after everything he'd done? It made no sense.

None of this made sense- why was he even here? He had left Amity Park not wanting to have anything to do with any of them anymore. So why was he back here now, in a dark alleyway in the middle of the night, grabbing her out of the street? Surely, he couldn't have meant to get just anyone, he wanted her. But what on earth for? And how could he expect that she would be okay with him just showing back up again? If he had had any experience with girls in the past (and she could bet her entire share of her toothpick fortune that she wasn't his first scam), he should have known that she was not going to be all hunky-dory with him coming back out of the blue.

Her head was starting to reel with all of the directions her frantic thoughts were taking.

"What is going on? Why are you here? What do you want with me?" she licked her lips and sighed, frustrated.

He was somewhat taken aback by her manner, but he supposed he couldn't really expect anything less considering what he had done to her. Maybe coming to her for help hadn't been his brightest idea… but then again, it was the only one he had. There was really nowhere else he could go… so he might as well answer her… with the truth this time…

He sighed, preparing to launch into his story, but then looked around, suddenly nervous that someone would be around to overhear them.

"Can we move somewhere else?"

She looked at him suspiciously, so he expounded, "it's just that, well, I don't want anyone else to somehow see or hear…"

"Elliot…" His real name. Not the one she had called him when she liked him. Her tone was curt and clipped, demanding. "I am not moving until you explain what is going on. You can't just pull me into an alleyway in the middle of the night without giving me an explanation." For this, and everything else…

"Look, you don't understand…"

"I know that I don't understand. Which is why you are going to explain. Here. And now. Or I will leave."

"Okay, okay. I'm here because… I don't really know where else to go."

"Go back home to Minnesota or Michigan or wherever it was you haunt."

He cringed, suddenly aware of how well that description would fit him now.

"I… I can't go back there."

"And why not?"

"Well, that's just my problem. They'll find me if I go back home." He was working himself up more with each passing second. "They have the address, that's how they found me in the first place and I can't go back, I can't go back to them, Sam!"

"Wait a second, hold up, just, hold up. Who will find you and why do they want to find you and why can't you go back? Are… are the police after you? Did some girl finally turn you in for what you played with her?"

"No! No, nothing like that. Oh God. You aren't going to understand." He suddenly became even more frantic. "You aren't going to understand at all. You aren't going to believe me unless I show you and then you'll turn me in. Oh God. Oh God…"

"Elliot… Elliot! Calm down, okay? I can't understand you if you don't tell me what's going on. I promise that I'll at least listen to what you have to say."

This seemed to placate him. He took a few deep, shuddering breaths. "I'm so sorry…" Sam wondered what he was sorry about, freaking out or lying to her, but he continued talking without specifying so she did not find out. "Okay, I came to you because you live here with all of the ghosts and crazy supernatural things so I thought that you might believe me, and help me, even after I… okay, well, you remember that night? That last night? Of course you do, stupid question. Okay, you remember how the Guys in White thought I was Phantom?"

"Yeah, until Phantom actually showed up and saved your life."

"Yeah, well, apparently, they still thought that I was connected with Phantom even though I wasn't him. And they heard me shout my name and where I lived and well, there were agents waiting for me when I finally managed to get back."

Sam was speechless. If this was going where she thought it was going…

"They… interrogated you?" She hoped that that was all it was. But why would he be so scared of telling her that? Had they tortured him for information on Phantom? What had he said? And what did he even know to tell them? Or had he made up a story to placate them? A story involving Danny and Tucker…?

"They did more than interrogate me…"

That was exactly what she didn't want to hear. Oh God, what had they done? What had _he_ done?

"What…?"

"They did a bunch of tests…"

Tests.

It hadn't been anything like interrogations. Of course not. How could she have assumed? The Guys in White shot first and asked questions later. Or experimented first and asked questions never. They had performed tests on Elliot thinking that he was somehow related to Phantom. Such a simple sentence left out all of the gruesome details that she knew were there. She couldn't even imagine what had gone on behind the pristine walls of their headquarters.

"And now… I don't know what to do or where to go. I know that you know about the Guys in White so you might have an idea and you believe in ghosts so you might believe in this."

"What? Believe in what? What happened, Elliot? What did they do to you?"

He looked at her with a pained expression on his face. He wanted to show her. He _needed_ to show her. He needed someone to see and understand. But if he showed her, how could she not run away screaming? Seeing ghosts, fighting ghosts was one thing, but seeing someone actually...

He decided that it was worth it to tell her, even if there was a chance that she would abandon him. He could understand it. But he would try, anyway.

He should try to explain things first, though, prepare her a bit.

"They were running tests assuming that I had some ghostly properties already in me. I was exposed to stuff that they had to wear suits to even look at." He swallowed, heavily, as he tried to keep the recounting as simple as possible so he would not get lost in the awful memories. Sam stood still, hanging on his every word. "And, uh," he tried to laugh, "it had some, uh, some weird effects on me."

He waited for her response, wondering how she was going to take this.

Her mind was already racing, trying to imagine the possibilities of such an experience. If he had been exposed to a concentrated amount of ghostly ectoplasm, could it… could it be possible that he was another halfa?

"What… do… do you have ghostly qualities?"

He nearly choked— a pained sound that seemed too loud for the quiet night. "Close. Very close. It shows a lot when I trigger it or I'm around a lot of ectoplasm… but I'm not a ghost! I'm not. It's kind of like that, but it's different. You know, I am more… it's kind of like… oh God why am I even trying to explain? I should just show you."

Sam nodded.

"But… you have to promise not to freak out or run away or turn me in. You have to swear that you won't turn me in!"

"I wouldn't, Elliot. I would never turn anyone in to the Guys in White."

"Okay. You stay there so you don't feel trapped when I… do my thing. I always stay in control and I wouldn't hurt you. So please, please don't run away."

He would have come forward and grabbed her arms to emphasize his point but Sam stiffened and took the smallest step backward as he began to do so. Grabbing her arms would not have advanced his cause. Even though she had pulled away from him, however, she held her ground and answered with what he wanted to hear.

"I won't."

"Okay. Okay…" He took a deep breath to ready himself and then stepped back into the shadows, turning his back to her.

For a minute, nothing happened.

Then, he began to groan. There were no lights like there were at Danny's transformation, so she couldn't tell what was happening, but she could definitely hear everything. And it didn't sound good.

Even though he was trying his hardest to keep the noise level down, so as to not attract attention from any random passers-by and also to not scare the living daylights out of Sam—she had said that she wouldn't run, but better safe than sorry, the thought—he couldn't contain some of the groans. It simply hurt too much.

He noted with a bit of pride, however, that it was becoming easier to go through this whole rigmarole with every transformation. It still hurt like heck as his muscles spasm-ed and contracted uncontrollably, but he knew what to expect and he certainly wasn't yelling like a banshee like the had the first time in the lab... Still, it probably didn't sound pretty.

He clenched his jaw as a new wave of spasms spread through his muscles, stretching them past their elasticity point so that they hung lax and useless around his bones until they filled and became taut to push out again, this time even further.

Soon, he was left panting; holding onto the brick wall for support, but it was done.

Sam waited apprehensively for him to reveal… whatever else was different about him. Whatever it was, it was certainly not anything like what happened to Danny when he went ghost.

"Elliot?" she asked quietly.

The figure jerked a little, as if just then remembering that someone was there watching him. With a noticeable effort, he forced his breathing to become normal again and then straightened.

Sam's eyes had become a little more accustomed to the darkness of the alley during the course of this whole adventure. Somehow, though, her eyes must have been playing tricks on her. He seemed taller, bigger. She could vaguely see him, but was even more aware of a… presence that was larger than life.

And then that shivering was back too, that same feeling that had made her look over her shoulder and want to sprint home. Not quite as strong as before, but definitely pulling at her enough to make her extremely uncomfortable. It was all she could do to keep herself from back up and out of the alley, keep herself from turning and running. But she was not going to do that. She had promised the guy that she would stay and she kept her promises. Even if she didn't want to.

Elliot took a step closer, very slowly. As he inched forward, he whispered what he hoped were encouraging words. He didn't even know what they were, but he knew that he didn't want to startle Sam into running away. That was the last thing he wanted. Especially since she had actually agreed to hear him out and see this thing through. And boy... what she was going to see...

The Elliot who stepped into the pale light in front of her was very different from the boy with whom she had been talking just a minute before.

He was definitely taller. By perhaps a foot or more. And bigger, much bigger. His chest and arms had swelled with muscle until they practically filled what she now saw must have been a baggy black sweatshirt and ragged pair of pants. His button-up shirt and vest of a few months ago certainly wouldn't have held up through the change.

His white hair appeared grayish, long, and tangled and the skin that wasn't covered by what should have been massively over-sized clothes was pale and drawn. It appeared to be a dead shade of white, very visible even in this poor light. It was sickly and she could see the veins standing out in high contrast, thumping in his temples with a sickly green.

Her hand flew to cover her mouth and stifle a small squeak when she finally realized what she was seeing.

Elliot was an ectoplasmically mutated Hulk!

"Oh God..." was all she said.

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt #2: "Gregor/Elliot is accidentally exposed to some toxic compound and is able to turn himself into a Hulk-like monster!" - challenge by Skatooneyfan1234, who wrote a prequel here: https://www.deviantart.com/skatoonyfan1234/art/Elliot-SMASH-302847228


End file.
